Regulation round-up 30 April 2013
The biggest regulatory news from the egaming industry in the last seven days (24 April to 30 April 2013)
Spanish regulator Alejo steps down
General director of DGOJ leaves for public television company RTVE after 16 months in the role
The general director of Spain’s gambling regulator Enrique Alejo has left the organisation after 16 months to join the country’s largest TV group as its corporate CEO.
Alejo joined the General Directorate for the Regulation of Gambling (DGOJ) in January 2012 and oversaw the opening of the Spanish online gaming market last June. Most recently he was responsible for the commitment to regulate exchange betting and online slot games.
Having spent the majority of his career in the public sector including with the Spanish Institute of Foreign Trade, he will join the public service broadcaster Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española (RTVE) to replace Teófilo GarcÃa BuendÃa who died at the age of 52 last month.
Seven days in regulation:
Swedish gaming market sees online decline as legislation nears
Sweden’s Lotteriinspektionen has revealed that its regulated gambling market has seen revenues rise SEK107m (£10.5m) to SEK10bn in the first quarter of 2013, with draft egaming legislation likely to be submitted to the country’s parliament in June this year.
Monopoly operator Svenska Spel maintained the largest share of the country’s gambling market, generating total revenues of SEK5.77bn in Q1 “ though this represents a year-on-year increase of less than 1%.
‘Number games’ products including bingo, lotto and keno proved to be the best-performing vertical, with revenues up 9.2% on 2012, marking the vertical’s strongest performance since the mid-1980s.
New Czech gambling bill set for June
The Czech government has called upon its finance minister to introduce an EU-friendly gambling regulations before the end of June, after a previous bill was said to have “a number of shortcomings”.
Last year’s proposals, which required operators to be domiciled in the European country, was subject to a detailed opinion from the European Commission in November that suggested “entirely new legislation” was the “most favourable option”.
A resolution passed by the country’s government last month set a 30 June deadline for the finance minister to amend the laws relating to adoption of the gambling legislation, requiring the amended version to be fully compatible with EU laws and the “conclusions of the notification procedure”.
Opinion: EC needs actions rather than words
In his first column since taking over as EGBA secretary general, Maarten Haijer calls on the European Commission to follow up on its strong statements